Wis. background checks for gun purchases are up

If background checks are any indication, Wisconsin's gun sales seem to be up.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports total sales figures for firearms don't exist. But a good yardstick is the number of background checks when a gun is purchased.

The Wisconsin Department of Justice's background check hotline for handgun purchases has handled 60 percent more calls year to date as of Dec. 23 than it did for the same period last year. And the total number of calls this year has far surpassed all of 2011.

There also appeared to be a spike after the Connecticut shooting Dec. 14.

State figures show for the week of Dec. 9 to 15, the hotline handled more than 3,700 calls. That number jumped to nearly 6,000 the week after.

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